but shattered his own goads, being unable to endure the hardness of the resistance. Let no one, therefore, condemn me for cowardice through ignorance, nor cast humble words upon the divinity. I am a shepherd according to the word of the divinity; For it says, "Give heed, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a sheep," but a sheep according to the economy of the flesh; For as a sheep I was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent. Since, therefore, the devil lies in wait for me, wanting to snatch my flesh as a sheep, but fearing the divinity as a shepherd, he withdraws and flees, for this reason I hide my divinity as a shepherd, and I put forth the flesh as a sheep, so that taking courage he might approach, and having approached he might snatch, and having snatched my flesh as a sheep he might be destroyed by the two-edged sword of the spirit. Cease therefore, O heretic, from condemning my cowardice and ignorance. For I am afraid, in order to show that the assumption of the flesh was not a phantom. I say: My soul is troubled, so that you may learn that I did not assume a soulless body, as the error of Apollinarius wishes. Do not therefore cast the passions of the flesh upon the impassible Word; for I am God and man, O heretic. God, as the miracles guarantee, man, as the sufferings testify. Since, therefore, I am God and man, say who it is that suffered? If God suffered, you have said the blasphemous thing; but if the flesh suffered, why do you attach the passion to him upon whom you do not cast cowardice? for when one suffers, another is not afraid, and when a man is crucified, God is not troubled. And that the flesh suffered, while the Word remained impassible, Isaiah is a witness, who, having seen me in spirit stained with blood, asked: "Why are your garments red?" "Your garments," he says, "are red," and not you. For the body is wounded, but the Word of the divinity is not harmed. And a witness is also Jacob the patriarch who says concerning me: "He will wash his robe in wine and his garment in the blood of the grape." What robe? The body. In what blood? In that which flowed from the side. But if you do not reject my testimony, I bear witness to myself. For my testimony is true, even if you do not wish it, which I spoke to the Jews: "Why do you wish to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you." He said "man," O heretic, not then "God." This man Jesus, therefore, who was killed by the Jews, is himself afraid. And do not confound the Word with your ignorance. For this reason I am afraid, so that death might grapple with me as with a man and be defeated as by God. But even in being afraid I do not entirely refuse the passion. For if I were refusing it, I would not have said: "Father if it is possible, let the cup pass." For I knew that nothing is impossible for the Father. But if I asked for death to be taken away, and he did not take it away, two absurdities arise. For if, being unable, he did not take it away, or, being unsparing, he delivered me up, you are found, O heretic, attaching cowardice to me, and inability to the Father. But in saying that I am afraid, you have an excuse on account of the flesh, but in ascribing inability to the Father you sin unpardonably, saying the power of God is weaker than death. And otherwise you also declare me to be stronger than the Father. And I will tell you how. For if I, while living in the flesh, raised Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow, and again, having died in the flesh, I plundered more than five hundred dead from their tombs, but my Father, who has experienced neither flesh nor death, was not able to rescue from dangers one child, me, whom he loved, as he himself says: "This is my beloved son," see what you are doing, O heretic. Because, not willingly granting me equality, you unwillingly provide the greater part, and him whom you seem to disparage for weakness, you declare to be stronger than the Father; because I, even <not> being asked, rescued the souls held in Hades; for it says, "O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Hades," but he, even when asked, did not free my troubled soul from the impending evils. But may it not be so! For neither the

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δὲ ἑαυτοῦ κέντρα συνέθλα σεν τῆς ἀντιτυπίας τὸ στερρὸν ὑπομεῖναι μὴ δυνάμενος. Μηδεὶς οὖν μου δι' ἄγνοιαν δειλίαν καταψηφιζέσθω μηδὲ τα πεινὰ ῥήματα τῇ θεότητι ἐπιριπτέτω. Ποιμήν εἰμι κατὰ τὸν τῆς θεότητος λόγον· Ὁ ποιμαίνων, γάρ φησιν, τὸν Ἰσραὴλ πρόσχες, ὁ ὁδηγῶν ὡσεὶ πρόβατον τὸν Ἰωσήφ, πρόβατον δὲ κατὰ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς οἰκονομίαν· Ὡς πρόβατον γὰρ ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθην καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἔναντι τοῦ κείροντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐφεδρεύει μοι ὁ διάβολος, ἁρπάσαι μου τὴν σάρκα ὡς πρόβατον θέλων, δεδιὼς δὲ ὡς ποιμένα τὴν θεότητα ὑπαναχωρεῖ καὶ φεύγει, διὰ τοῦτο κρύπτω μου ὡς ποιμένα τὴν θεότητα, προΐεμαι δὲ τὴν σάρκα ὡς πρόβατον, ἵνα θαρρήσας προσέλθῃ, προσελθὼν δὲ ἁρπάσῃ, ἁρπάσας δέ μου τὴν σάρκα ὡς πρόβατον ἀναιρεθῇ τῇ διστόμῳ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος. Παῦσαι οὖν, αἱρετικέ, δειλίαν μου καὶ ἄγνοιαν καταψηφιζό μενος. ∆ειλιῶ γάρ, ἵνα δείξω ἀφαντασίαστον τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνάληψιν. Λέγω· Ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται, ἵνα μάθητε ὅτι οὐκ ἄψυχον ἀνείληφα σῶμα, ὡς ἡ Ἀπολλιναρίου βούλεται πλάνη. Μὴ τὰ πάθη οὖν τῆς σαρκὸς τῷ ἀπαθεῖ προσρίψῃς λόγῳ· θεὸς γάρ εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος, αἱρετικέ. Θεὸς ὡς ἐγγυᾶται τὰ θαύματα, ἄνθρωπος ὡς μαρτυρεῖ τὰ παθήματα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν θεός εἰμι καὶ ἄνθρωπος, εἰπὲ τίς ἐστιν ὁ παθών; Εἰ ὁ θεὸς ἔπαθεν, εἶπες τὸ βλάσφημον· εἰ δὲ ἡ σὰρξ ἔπαθεν, τί τὸ πάθος προσάπτεις ᾧ τὴν δειλίαν οὐκ ἐπιρίπτεις; ἄλλου γὰρ πάσχοντος ἄλλος οὐ δειλιᾷ καὶ ἀνθρώπου σταυρουμένου θεὸς οὐ ταράττεται. Καὶ ὅτι ἡ σὰρξ ἔπαθεν, ἀπαθοῦς μείναντος τοῦ λόγου, μάρτυς Ἠσαΐας, ὃς ἐν πνεύματί με αἱμαγμένον θεασάμενος ἠρώτα· Ἵνα τί σου ἐρυθρὰ τὰ ἱμάτια; Τὰ ἱμάτιά σου, φησίν, ἐρυθρά, καὶ οὐχὶ σύ. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ σῶμα τιτρώσκεται, ὁ δὲ τῆς θεότητος οὐ παραβλάπτεται λόγος. Μάρτυς δὲ καὶ Ἰακὼβ ὁ πατριάρχης ὁ περὶ ἐμοῦ λέγων· Πλυνεῖ ἐν οἴνῳ τὴν στολὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν αἵματι σταφυλῆς τὴν περιβολὴν αὐτοῦ. Ποίαν στολήν; τὸ σῶμα. Ποίῳ αἵματι; τῷ ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς ῥεύσαντι. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἐκβάλλετέ μου τὴν μαρτυρίαν, ἐγὼ ἐμαυτῷ μαρτυρῶ. Ἡ γὰρ μαρτυρία μου ἀληθής ἐστιν, κἂν μὴ θέλητε, ἣν πρὸς Ἰουδαίους ἔλεγον· Τί με θέλετε ἀποκτεῖναι, ἄνθρωπον ὃς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα. Ἄνθρωπον εἶπεν, αἱρετικέ, μὴ οὖν θεόν. Οὗτος οὖν ὁ ἀποκτανθεὶς ἄνθρωπος Ἰησοῦς παρὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων αὐτὸς δειλιᾷ. Καὶ μὴ συντάραττε τὸν λόγον τῇ σῇ ἀμαθείᾳ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δειλιῶ, ἵνα ὁ θάνατος ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ μοι συμπλακῇ καὶ ὡς παρὰ θεοῦ ἡττηθῇ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ δειλιῶν οὐ πάντη παραιτοῦμαι τὸ πάθος. Εἰ γὰρ παρῃτούμην, οὐκ ἂν εἶπον· Πάτερ εἰ δυνατὸν παρελθάτω τὸ ποτή ριον. Ἤδειν γάρ, ὅτι οὐδὲν τῷ πατρὶ ἀδύνατον. Εἰ δὲ ἐγὼ μὲν ᾔτησα παρενεχθῆναι τὸν θάνατον, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐ παρήγαγεν, δύο ἀνακύπτει ἄτοπα. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ δυνάμενος οὐ παρήνεγκεν ἢ ἀφειδῶν παρέδωκεν, εὑρίσκῃ, αἱρετικέ, ἐμοὶ μὲν δειλίαν, τῷ δὲ πατρὶ ἀδυναμίαν προσάπτων. Ἀλλ' ἐμὲ μὲν δειλιᾶν λέγων συγγνώμην ἔχεις διὰ τὴν σάρκα, τῷ δὲ πατρὶ ἀδυναμίαν προστρίβων ἀσύγγνωστα πταίεις ἀσθενεστέραν θανάτου τὴν δύναμιν λέγων τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἄλλως δὲ καὶ ἰσχυρότερόν με τοῦ πατρὸς ἀποφαίνῃ. Καὶ λέγω τὸν τρόπον. Εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ ζῶν μὲν ἐν σαρκὶ τὸν Λάζαρον ἤγειρα, τὴν Ἰαείρου θυγατέρα, τὸν παῖδα τῆς χήρας, ἀποθανὼν δὲ πάλιν ἐν σαρκὶ ὑπὲρ τοὺς πεντακοσίους νεκροὺς ἐκ τῶν τάφων ἐσκύλευσα, ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ὁ ἐμὸς ὁ μήτε σαρκὸς μήτε θανάτου πεῖραν λαβὼν ἕνα ἐμὲ ὅνπερ ἠγάπα παῖδα, ὡς αὐτὸς λέγει· Οὗτός μού ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς ἀγαπητός, ἐξελέσθαι ἐκ κινδύνων οὐκ ἐδυνήθη, ὅρα τί πάσχεις, αἱρετικέ. Ὅτι τὸ ἴσον μοι μὴ διδοὺς γνώμῃ τὸ πλέον παρέχεις ἄκων, καὶ ὃν δοκεῖς ἐπὶ ἀσθενείᾳ διασύρειν, ἰσχυρότε ρον τοῦ πατρὸς ἀποφαίνῃ· ὅτι ἐγὼ μὲν καὶ <μὴ> παρακληθεὶς τὰς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ κατεχομένας ψυχὰς ἐρρυσάμην· Κύριε, γάρ φησιν, ἀνήγαγες ἐξ ᾅδου τὴν ψυχήν μου, αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ παρακληθεὶς τὴν τεταραγμένην μου ψυχὴν τῶν ἐπηρτημένων οὐκ ἠλευθέρωσεν κακῶν. Ἀλλὰ μὴ γένοιτο! Οὔτε γὰρ ὁ

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